Breakfast is Served!

I rarely cook breakfast since Mark and I usually skip breakfast, either we have a late breakfast or an early lunch altogether but never a true one except this morning which wasn't even an early breakfast (served at 11am). The kids do have breakfast, a cheese sandwich, nuggets or sometimes pancakes. Once I give them their food that's when I start working on our lunch. But today I prepared scrambled egg with chorizo and mushrooms and I opened a can of sardines plus leftover rice from last night. I think from now on I'll start cooking a proper breakfast and have it ready way earlier than 11am!

Pre-Christmas Jitters

Pork all tied up for my Hamonado

We've been busy attending parties lately, few more days left before Christmas and I still have a lot of catching up to do with all the household chores. Thank God I had the will and energy to finish the laundry (with the last batch still on the dryer, lol). I still need to do some cleaning and finalize my Christmas menu. I am on panic mode!!! So many things to do and the excitement is slowly turning into anxiety. Fast forward to Christmas Eve so I can cook Paella, Fried Chicken, Beef/Pork Nilaga and Hamonado (yup, my revised and latest Christmas menu).

Mixed Paella once more (accdg to Mark, he can eat this everyday)

Pre-Christmas Cooking and Eating

Beef Sukiyaki

The best thing about making puto is knowing that I will be making Leche Flan too because of the unused egg yolks and that's what I did yesterday. It's not even Christmas yet but I'm just too hyped up. I am tempted to cook paella again, I actually took out the bag of mixed seafood, green peas and chicken from the freezer this morning only to return them back and cook Dinuguan instead. It's Lance's Christmas Concert anyway, a special feast afterwards would be awesome! Aside from the Dinuguan, I'll be making Crispy Pata and Beef Sukiyaki. I have a feeling that tonight's gonna be a delicious night!

Crispy Pata

Yummier Puto

I just made puto from scratch and it's a success! It's more delicious compared to my previous putos. I can't wait for Lance to go home from school. From now on, no more puto mix, I'll just stock up on flour and eggs, the rest of the ingredients (butter, milk and sugar) we always have and maybe I now have a reason to buy a hand mixer.

The only difficult part was beating the egg whites until stiff, I only used a whisk and it took me awhile, not to mention my arm got sore but the end result, soft and fluffy puto, was worth getting sore. I don't mind going through all that again but since it's Christmas, maybe I could write to Santa and ask for a hand mixer. Promise Santa, there'll be puto and milk waiting for you!

A few inches taller

Our little girl is growing up real fast. I surely miss my babies but at the same time, I can't wait for them to grow up and see what kind of children we raised.

More headaches in the future that's for sure, Thank God I have a high tolerance for pain!

A Spanish Meal on a Sunday

Sunday's special dinner was Mixed Paella. Sumptuous indeed especially after squeezing lemon on it, OMG it's really yummy!!! I still can't stop thinking about it and much as I'd like to eat again, the pan is empty. Last batch went into Mark's lunch box and the rest on our satisfied tummies.

Pretty easy to make when you have a bag of mixed seafood. I wasn't able to add chicken though because I'm too lazy to thaw the chicken but I put pork and chorizo, lots of bell peppers, green peas and several spices. It's not really complicated and difficult to cook as I previously expected.

Next stop? Arroz Valenciana.

Update on My First Apple Pie

My apple pie tasted better the next day compared to when it was freshly baked. I was afraid it's going to end up in the trash but Mark heat it up in the microwave and served it with ice cream. All of a sudden I'm brimming with pride and joy again and it all sank in, I successfully baked my first apple pie and we finished it! I am definitely going to make another one.

My First Apple Pie

I just baked my first apple pie! It's not a success but it's not a complete failure either. Next time, I'll make a thinner crust, make the filling sweeter and really pile up the filling with lotsa lotsa apples. The recipe called for 6 cups of apples and I only put 3-4 cups. I doubled the amount of sugar already but I didn't get the right amount of sweetness. Anyway, atleast it's still edible and I'd hate it if it went directly to the garbage.

I'm not good at baking but that doesn't stop me from trying. Before making the apple pie, I was really getting sleepy but it was still too early to sleep, the kids too were wide awake and since Mark needed a nap before going to work, I ushered the kids out of the bedroom and decided to try my luck in baking an apple pie. I first googled an easy apple pie recipe and got myself busy in the kitchen. An hour or so after, the pie was out of the oven and into my mouth.

I would definitely try this again, probably with a better recipe or another kind of pie until I get better at this. My new motto? Try and try until I cook a perfect pie!

Winter Fun at Sugar Bowl

Lance and Lei on their way up

We finally brought the kids sledding yesterday and this time they went down the steeper side of the hill at Sugar Bowl. Last year both the kids were still afraid to go sledding as it was their first time to experience such. Over the summer Lance had been anticipating for snow so he could go sledding. Since it was too cold to go when the snow first started, Mark improvised so they could go sledding in our front yard. For weeks we maintained the snow covering our stairs which we discovered was a bad idea since the snow hardened and we really had a hard time cleaning up. I guess no more sledding at home after that and besides that's what the Sugar Bowl is for.

Alex, Lance & Mac

We headed there around lunch time and met up with Alex (Lance's bestfriend). The good thing was, we had the Sugar Bowl all to ourselves. The kids had so much fun including Lei who went down all by herself several times but we had to get her at the bottom since it was a long walk back to the top. I told her to just sled down the lower hill but according to her it was too low. Really a Tapang in the true sense of the word!

brave little girl